When railroads first built across Kansas in the 1860s, Plains Indians
inhabited much of the central and western part of the state. They did
not welcome the incursion, sensing a danger to the buffalo herds that
provided them with food, shelter, and clothing. In an attempt to defend
their lands, Cheyennes, Arapahos, and other tribes frequently attacked
railroad workers and tore up tracks.
Two miles west of this marker in May 1869, a mounted party of Indians
dashed out of a deep ravine and attacked a railroad crew of seven. The
railroad workers raced to their handcar and pumped desperately for home,
firing their rifles as they went. Although no Indians are known to have
died, two of the railroad workers were killed and four wounded. A
monument to the two who died stands in the Russell cemetery just east of
here.
When the railroad reached here in 1867, a construction camp and watering
station named Fossil Station was established. The name was changed to
Russell in 1871 when a Wisconsin colony established the town.
Erected by Kansas State Historical Society & Kansas Department of
Transportation
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